RIL, strong global cues help mkts end higher

Mumbai, Nov 23: Led by strong global cues and the surge in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Nifty closed at a one-month high.

The 30-share BSE Sensex shut shop at 17,180.18, gaining 158.33 points or 0.93 per cent and the 50-share NSE Nifty surged 51.10 points or 1.01 per cent, to end at 5103.55.

While the buying in shares of FMCG, oil & gas, metal, auto, cement, select pharma and banking companies helped the markets, selling in telecom, realty, select power and technology stocks along with SBI capped the gains.

Reliance Industries which was the leader for the session gained continuously on its non-binding cash offer to buy the Dutch company LyondellBasell.

Cigarette major ITC also saw a great day as it hit new all-time high at Rs 270.20, closing 3.54% higher at Rs 269.15. 4: 22 PM

Nifty struggles to break 5100 mark

Even though the Nifty touched the 5100 mark, it was struggling to break past it. At 1: 00 PM, Sensex was up 155.70 points or 0.91 per cet at 17177.55, and the Nifty up 47.15 points or 0.93 per cent at 5099.60.

Buying was seen in sectors like FMCG and pharma along with Oil & Gas, metal and banks. Reliance Industries continued to trade higher.

With the Tata Teleservice also launching 1 paise/second roaming plan the telecom pricing war intensified and Bharti Airtel slipped 3 per cent.

BSE Midcap was up 0.3 per cent and Smallcap gained 0.9 per cent.

Top gainers on the BSE Midcap: Going up 6 tp 7 per cent, Guj Mineral, Aurobindo Pharma, Gujarat Gas, BF Utilities and HMT were the top gainers on the BSE Midcap, while Tata Sponge Iron, Atul Industries, Indian Metals, Sahara One and Mastek were up 7 to 12 per cent among the smallcaps.

The losers on the BSE Midcap were KGN Industries, Gammon India, Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka and JK Bank were down 3 to 10 per cent. PVP Ventures, Webel SL Energy, Advani Hotels, Dhampur Sugar and MVL were down 4 to 5 per cent were the top losers on BSE Smallcap.2: 30 PM

RIL continues to lead, Nifty touches 5100 mark

At 11: 55 , Nifty continued the uptrend gaining 48 points to touch the 5,100 mark after a month, while the Sensex went up 139 points to 17,160.

Surging up to 3 per cent, Index Heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) continued to lead the markets the company. This run was fueled by the company's preliminary, non-binding cash offer to buy Dutch company LyondellBasell (LB).

Among the sectors, buying was seen in auto, metal, power, banking ( other than SBI), cement and select pharma stocks.

But the gains were capped to a certain extent due to selling in Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Infosys, SBI and Hindalco.

Among the midcaps, GMDC, BF Utilities, HMT, MRF and Aurobindo Pharma surged 6 to 8 per cent. The losers were KGN Industries down 10 per cent, Balrampur Chini, J&K Bank, Shree Renuka and Info Edge down 3 to 4 per cent.

Riding on the index heavyweight Reliance Industries, which has bid to buy Dutch company LyondellBasell, along with buying in banking, auto, cement and metal stocks, the Indian benchmarks have opened the week on a positive note.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex rose 99 points to 17,121 and the Nifty gained 28 points at 5,080. The CNX Midcap went up 45 points to 7,207.

Bharti Airtel down 2 per cent, Infosys and Idea Cellular down 0.7 per cent each were the early losers.

Among the midcaps, after the 40 per cent surge last week, Vishal Retail went up another 5.5 per cent,. Dish TV gained 1.7 per cent. On consolidated in the banking space, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank and Vijaya Bank.